In short
- Your job is the records: every sale and cost, in the right category, with the receipt attached.
- Their job is the filing and the judgement calls. Ask before you guess.
- Agree a date each month or quarter when your books are up to date, and keep to it.
Most small businesses split the work: you keep the books, and an accountant or tax practitioner files the returns and handles the tricky parts. It works best when both sides know exactly where one job ends and the other begins.
What they need from you
- Every sale: invoices you issued, and payments you received.
- Every cost, in the right category, with a photo or PDF of the receipt or bill.
- Notes on anything unusual: a large purchase, a cost that’s partly personal, money you put in or took out.
- Answers to their questions, before the deadline rather than on it.
In the UK
If you’re joining Making Tax Digital, your accountant will usually send the quarterly updates and the final declaration from your records. Agree a date each quarter, a week or two before the update deadline, when your books will be complete for that quarter. If you’re VAT registered they usually file your VAT return too.
Who files what. The accountant files; you keep the records. BillingEase doesn’t file to HMRC itself.
A monthly routine
| Step | What you do |
|---|---|
| 1. Sales | Check every invoice for the month is in, and record payments you’ve received. |
| 2. Costs | Enter expenses and bills you haven’t yet, and attach the receipts. |
| 3. Check | Compare your bank statement’s closing balance with your books, and find any difference. |
| 4. Chase | Send reminders for anything overdue. |
| 5. Look | Read your three numbers. Did anything surprise you? |
Ask before you guess. A two-line question now is cheaper than an amended return later.
Fixing mistakes
If you find a mistake in a period your accountant has already filed, tell them rather than changing it quietly. In BillingEase, filed periods are locked and corrections are recorded as a new entry that reverses the old one, so both of you can see what changed and when.
General information, correct as of 14 October 2026. It isn’t tax or legal advice: check with your accountant before a big decision.